World

December 13, 2006|By FROM NEWS SERVICES

Sex workers in Britain warned of serial killer

IPSWICH, England The search for a serial killer who preys on prostitutes in eastern England intensified Tuesday with the discovery of two more bodies, and detectives warned sex workers "to get off the streets as soon as possible."

The two bodies found Tuesday have not been identified, but the detective leading the investigation said it was likely they were those of Annette Nicholls and Paula Clennell, two prostitutes who had been missing for days.

"We have got three prostitutes murdered, now possibly another two. I do not know what stronger warning there can be to get off the streets as soon as possible," he said.

Detectives already were investigating the deaths of three women whose naked bodies were found a few miles apart. One body was found in a stream, another in a pond and a third in the woods, about 30 yards from a road.

The two bodies discovered Tuesday were lying near Levington, Suffolk, a village just south of Ipswich. The corpses of the five dead women all have been found within a few miles of Ipswich.

The reign of terror recalled Jack the Ripper, the notorious Victorian serial killer who murdered at least five East London prostitutes in 1888. He was never caught, and speculation about his identity continues.

Police said they suspected a serial killer in the Suffolk cases but were not ruling out multiple suspects. Police said there also was no indication women other than prostitutes were targeted.

- Historical perspective

The killings have stirred memories of the so-called Yorkshire Ripper, one of Britain's worst serial killers. Peter Sutcliffe admitted to killing 13 women, mostly prostitutes, in the 1970s. He was sentenced to serve a minimum of 30 years in prison.

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Outrage follows meeting of Holocaust deniers in Iran

VIENNA A gathering of Holocaust deniers in Iran touched off a firestorm of indignation Tuesday across Europe, where many countries have made it a crime to publicly disavow the Nazis' systematic extermination of 6 million Jews.

And, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad added to the controversy on Tuesday by saying that Israel will be wiped out liked the Soviet Union.

The European Union's top justice official condemned the conference as "an unacceptable affront" to victims of the World War II genocide. British Prime Minister Tony Blair denounced it as "shocking beyond belief" and proof of Ahmadinejad's extremism.

"I think it is such a symbol of sectarianism and hatred toward people of another religion. I find it just unbelievable, really," Blair said in London.

David Duke, an ex-Klan leader and former Louisiana state representative, was among those at the two-day conference. Although organizers touted it as a scholarly gathering, the meeting angered many in countries such as Austria, Germany and France, where it is illegal to deny aspects of the Nazi Holocaust.

In Washington, the White House condemned Iran for "an affront to the entire civilized world."

The conference drew especially sharp condemnation in Germany, where Chancellor Angela Merkel said her country repudiated it "with all our strength."

The L.A.-based Simon Wiesenthal Center, answering critics who contend revisionists are simply exercising their right to free speech, quoted an unidentified survivor as saying: "If the Holocaust was a myth, where is my sister?"

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Anger, grief over shootings

Demonstrations erupted Tuesday throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip a day after the killing of an intelligence officer's three young sons. Students stayed home from school, newspapers published angry editorials and mothers outside the president's office demanded protection for their children. The violence dimmed hopes for a unity government and peace talks with Israel.

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Bombings kill at least 63

A suicide bomber struck a crowd of mostly poor Shiites in Baghdad on Tuesday, killing at least 63 people and wounding more than 200 after luring construction workers onto a pickup truck by offering them jobs as they were eating breakfast. At least 59 other Iraqis also were killed or found dead, including a cameraman who was shot while covering clashes in Mosul.

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AND FINALLY

Happy ending for treasure

The mystery baffled archaeologists for more than two decades. What happened to 22,000 pieces of gold--jewel-encrusted crowns, daggers and baubles from an ancient burial mound--that apparently had vanished from Afghanistan in the 1980s? The Bactrian gold went on display this month at Paris' Guimet Museum. The treasure had been saved by a mysterious group of Afghans who patiently kept it hidden underground.

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Dictator convicted in 12-year trial

An Ethiopian dictator known as "the butcher of Addis Ababa" was convicted Tuesday of genocide in a rare case of an African strongman being held to account by his own country. Mengistu Haile Mariam, who has been living in exile in Zimbabwe since 1992, was convicted in absentia after a 12-year trial. He could face the death penalty.

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Wildfires destroy homes

Dozens of wildfires burning Tuesday across southern Australia destroyed more than a dozen homes and a popular ski lodge, while residents in a suburb of Perth were urged to flee. In Victoria, firefighters assisted by bulldozers and water-bombing aircraft battled to dig containment lines around a series of wildfires that have blackened more than 965 square miles.